BANGALORE: Designed to increase connectivity and create environmentally friendly modes of public transport, Namma Cycle, the first public bicycling initiative in Bangalore, rolled out at the Indian Institute of Science campus on Monday.

This is a joint initiative of the Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Infrastructure and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), IISc and Ride a Cycle Foundation. TI Cycles India, part of the Muruguppan Group in Chennai, has sponsored 150 cycles to kickstart it.

Gubbi Labs, a private research collective, designed the system and developed the bicycle-sharing software which is built on open source platform so that the technology and process can be shared easily.

“Initial studies and observations have shown the institute has a large number of privately owned bicycle-users, largely students who move around the campus. The cycles are bought for Rs 3,000- Rs 5,000. Namma Cycle hopes to make bicycle-riding on campus more cost-effective,” said Murali H R of Ride a Cycle Foundation.

How it works

It works on a simple sign-up, select, ride and return system where students can sign up on the website nammacycle.in and get a registration ID, select a cycle from any station rack, ride the cycle to the destination and return it to the nearest station.

Based on the response, it’ll be expanded to a 2-km radius around the campus to include students and faculty living in the area. It could grow into a wider network, involving partnerships with municipal authorities to improve road infrastructure for cyclists.